Indigenous Education in Australia

This chapter focuses on the case of the Australian education system and its attempts to redefine, if not obliterate, Indigenous identities. In Australia, the term ‘Indigenous education’ has been variously used with regard to the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The chapter draws on how the identities of Indigenous Australians, which have been formed through their individual and collective histories, experiences, and social and political contexts, have been subjected to ongoing challenges and contests. It outlines the many ways in which educational systems and educational discourse in Australia have reinforced the relative position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The chapter draws on analyses of recognitive justice that incorporates a moral imperative for the recognition of certain groups. It shows how Indigenous education in Australia since white settlement has served to maintain clear boundaries between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians while denigrating the lives, histories and identities of Indigenous Australians.